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Semyonov was born in the Transbaikal region of eastern Siberia. His father, Mikhail Petrovich Semyonov, was of partial Buryat descent. Semyonov was a fluent Mongolian and Buryat language speaker. He joined the Imperial Russian Army in 1908, and graduated from Orenburg Military School in 1911. He was commissioned as a yesaul (Cossack ensign) and distinguished himself in battle against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians in World War I, earning the Saint George's Cross for courage.[2]

Semenov was a Transbaikalian Cossack - dark and thickset, and of the rather alert Mongolian type. His intelligence was of a specifically Cossack calibre, and he was an exemplary soldier, especially courageous when under the eye of his superior. He knew how to make himself popular with Cossacks and officers alike, but he had his weaknesses in a love of intrigue and indifference to the means by which he achieved his ends. Though capable and ingenious, he had received no education, and his outlook was narrow. I have never been able to understand how he came to play a leading role.

He was somewhat of an outsider among the his fellow officers because of his ethnicity. While serving in the Caucasus in World War I he met another officer shunned by his peers, Baron Ungern-Sternberg, whose eccentric nature and disregard of the rules of etiquette and decorum repelled others. He and Sternberg tried to organize a regiment of Assyrian Christians to aid in the fight against the Turks. In July 1917, Semyonov left the Caucasus and was appointed Commissar of the Provisional Government in the Baikal region, responsible for recruiting a regiment of Buryat volunteers.[4]

After the fall of Kolchak's Siberian government, the admiral transferred power to Semyonov in the Far East. However Semyonov was unable to keep his forces in Siberia under control: they stole, burned, murdered, and raped, and developed a reputation for being little better than thugs.[11] In July 1920 the Japanese Expeditionary Corps started a limited withdrawal in accordance with the Gongota Agreement signed with the Far Eastern Republic, undermining support for Semyonov. Transbaikal partisans, internationalists and the 5th Soviet Army under Genrich Eiche launched an operation to re-take Chita. In October 1920, units of the Red Army and guerrillas forced Semyonov's tiny army out of the Baikal region. After having retreated to Primorye, Semyonov tried to continue fighting the Soviets, but was finally forced to abandon all Russian territory by September 1921.[12]

After failing to settle in Nagasaki via Harbin, Semyonov stayed in the United States for a period of time, where he was soon accused of committing acts of violence against the American soldiers of the Expeditionary Corps. Semyonov was eventually acquitted, and returned to China where he was given a monthly 1000-yen pension by the Japanese government. In Tianjin, he had ties with the Japanese intelligence community and mobilized exiled Russian and Cossack communities, planning to eventually overthrow the Russians. He was also employed by Puyi, the dethroned Emperor of China, who he wished to restore to power.[13][14]